


a family measured in spoons of coffee

by ThePackWantstheD



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Family Fluff, Gen, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 17:25:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13768956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePackWantstheD/pseuds/ThePackWantstheD
Summary: When Caleb had come to town he'd been alone, running from a past that still kept him up at night, with nothing except the clothes on his back and a backpack full of books he couldn't stand to leave behind.





	a family measured in spoons of coffee

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PossiblyPJ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PossiblyPJ/gifts).



As he approached The Wizard's Brew, the small cafe and bookstore that he owned, Caleb was only vaguely surprised to see two tieflings on either side of the door. The smaller of the two was his employee while the taller was one of his most frequent costumers.

Jester, the smaller tiefling with blue skin and small horns that curled into a tight loop, was a twenty year old medical student that Caleb had hired to work the morning shift at the Wizard's Brew cafe. Jester was an energetic, bubbly girl that was perfectly suited for working with the cafe's customers. She was much better at it then Caleb, who preferred to sit behind the register and read a book of his own while he waited for someone to come to him with a book they wanted to purchase.

Caleb didn't find it necessary to force a uniform on his staff, so today Jester was wearing a a dress with where the collar and sleeves of the dress were made of a see through white mesh while the rest of the dress was a brighter shade of her blue than her skin. The dress had a white hem with white and black shadowed trees around the bottom and Santa's sleigh being pulled across her hip. She wasn't wearing tights, but the winter weather had her wearing black boots that came up to her mid thigh and a black peacoat that she'd left open.

The other person waiting for Caleb was Mollymauk, a lavender tiefling with large horns that curled down towards his chin before flaring out slightly. Molly had blown into town with a circus a few years ago, shortly after when Caleb had first arrived, and ended up staying when an accident had split the circus up. Caleb wasn't exactly sure what Molly did now, but he spent a good amount of time sitting around the coffee shop telling other customers their fortunes in exchange for money. Caleb didn't really mind that Molly had set up a business of his own within the shop since Molly spent a good amount of the money he made in the shop.

Molly was dressed in colorful, draping fabrics that Caleb thought would have been far too thin for the weather if Molly wasn't wearing so many layers of them. Along with the light fabrics, Molly wore several piece of shiny gold and silver jewelry from chain necklaces to golden tips on his horns.

"Caleb!" Jester exclaimed, smiling brightly as she caught sight of him. Previously she'd been saying something to Molly, using wide sweeping gestures and practically bouncing with each word, but now she was focused on Caleb. "Hi!"

Caleb had his head tucked down into his scarf, so his own greeting was muffled, "Hello."

"Molly is trying to convince me to make him an Irish coffee," Jester told him.

Caleb glanced over at Molly as he slipped past the two of them, pulling the keys to the shop out of his pocket to unlock the doors. "Isn't it a little early for that?"

"It's never too early for that," Molly informed him.

"Mmm," Caleb hummed. "Yasha hasn't come back yet?"

"No," Molly said. Yasha and Molly were close. Caleb didn't know if he would necessarily attribute their relationship to that of friends, but the two of them certainly had a lot of trust in each other. When she was around the two were attached at the hip, but Yasha would often disappear on long trips without telling anyone. Caleb didn't know what she did when she was gone. "Do you know if those books I ordered are in yet?"

"They're supposed to get here whenever mail comes through," Caleb told him. Flicking the lock, Caleb pushed the door open. Jester ducked under his arm and into the store, Molly and Caleb following after her. "Are you planning on sticking around for the day?"

"Yes," Molly said. Caleb wasn't surprised. While the amount of time that Molly spent in the cafe varied, days that followed the type of night that had Molly starting with Irish Coffee tended to be days when Molly spent more of the day with them.

"I'll bring them to you when they get here," Caleb promised. Noticing the direction Jester was headed in, he turned away from Molly. "Jester! Do not touch that!"

"I'm just turning the heat on," Jester said.

"The last time you turned the heat on we spent the morning being roasted alive," Molly said. He broke away from Caleb, heading in the direction of the corner table he always claimed while starting to shed off some of his outer layers.

"I only roast coffee beans," Jester argued.

"Yes, which is why you aren't allowed to touch the heating," Caleb informed her. He reached out to set his hands on her hips and used the hold to turn her body away from the heating module and towards the cafe's counter. "Why don't you go get things started before customers start coming in?"

"I'm here," Molly pointed out.

"You aren't a customer," Caleb told him. He gave Jester a little push. "I'll turn on the heat. You go get the machines started."

* * *

"Caleb, Jester is going to pick up lunch. Do you want anything?"

Caleb had been sitting behind the book register, sitting in a chair with his feet up on the counter and his nose buried in one of the books that had come in with that mornings shipment, but at the sound of his name he startled. Turning towards the other side of the store, he found Fjord was standing in the entry way between the two sections of the store.

Fjord was a giant half-orc that worked the afternoon shift in the cafe. Fjord's skin was a gradient of light to dark green that crept up his neck, face, and around the soft undersides of his arms and legs. Today he was wearing white jeans with a red and black flannel and a black tee-shirt underneath. While Fjord was large and intimidating on first look, having him work the second shift at the cafe was good. Jester greeted people with unbridled enthusiasm and woke people up for the day, but Fjord had a sweet, quiet voice and small smiles for the costumers whose days were starting to wind down.

"Oh hello Fjord," Caleb greeted. "I didn't realize you had gotten here."

"It's okay. I know how you get with your books," Fjord said. He repeated, "Jester is going to run out and grab lunch for everyone now that her shift is over. Do you want something?"

"She's sticking around?"

"Uh huh. Got some big test that she's gonna study for."

"Oh." Caleb blinked a little bit. He was still trying to pull himself out of the world of his novel, so he asked, "You said something about food right?"

"Yes," Fjord said, flashing Caleb a sharp-toothed smile. He didn't look annoyed by Caleb's confusion, just a little fond and amused. "We're ordering Chinese and Jester's going to grab it after she gets her backpack. Do you want something?"

"I want dumplings!"

Caleb looked away from Caleb, looking in the direction of the new speaker.

Beauregard, a human woman Caleb had hired to help with the bookstore, had poked out from behind the shelf's. Caleb had hired her specifically so he wouldn't have to shelf the books, but most days he regretted that. Beau liked to change the sorting system, frequently and in ways that made the bookstore increasingly difficult to find anything in. Once she had sorted them by what Hogwarts house the main character would have been in. That had not only been confusing for someone who hadn't read Harry Potter, but had been confusing for more than one person who _had_ read Harry Potter considering Beau was adamant that Harry should have been a Slytherin and placed the books accordingly. Her choices had caused more than one fight among the customers, which Beau was always happy to encourage or jump into herself.

Like Jester, Beau seemed to have disregarded the weather when getting dressed that morning. She was wearing a white crop top with black lettering that said 'Do not read the next sentence' in big bold lettering, followed by smaller lettering reading, 'You little rebel. I like you.' It showed off the strong, defined muscles of her abdomen. Yasha was the only person Caleb knew with abs anywhere near as defined as Beau's. With the top she wore a pair of dark blue jeans.

"I didn't realize you were here either," Caleb remarked. The book he had been reading was very good, but he hadn't realized he'd gotten so absorbed in it that he'd failed to notice both of them showing up. It was probably a good thing that it had been a slow morning. Caleb was almost certain the small bell on the counter would have startled him out of his book, but there had been times when it didn't.

"I think I came in during a good part," Beau told him. "You had a dumb smile on your face."

"Oh." He asked, "You aren't resorting everything again are you?"

"No," Beau said. "I like the current system." Currently, the books were sorted by hw many times the characters ate or mentioned eating in the book. Beau had put all of the cookbooks with the sort of teen novels that never seemed to acknowledge the humanity of their characters. She claimed they belonged together since there was no eating in the cookbooks, just recipes. "I'm just shelving the shipment from this morning."

Caleb felt a small pulse of relief. He'd only just figured out how to direct the costumers around the system.

"Steamed or fried dumplings?" Fjord asked.

"Steamed obviously," Beau answered. "And some rangoon!"

"Alright," Fjord said. "And you boss man?"

Caleb thought for a moment before requesting, "Kung pao chicken and a few egg rolls please."

"Sure." Fjord asked, "Should we get something for the little one to eat when she gets out of school?"

"No," Caleb said with a small shake of his head. "She can have whatever I don't eat. I'm not very hungry so there'll be plenty for her."

"Ight then," Fjord said. "I'll go tell Jester."

* * *

Caleb was in the cafe, leaning against the counter as he drank his tea and listened to the conversations around him, when the door opened and Yasha's voice filled the room, "Look who I found walking down the street!"

"You didn't find me. I wasn't lost. I'm always walking from the bus stop at this time! " Nott said.

Caleb looked away Fjord, who he had been speaking to while Fjord made drinks for the customers, to see Yasha and Nott standing in the shops entry way.

Yasha was as large and intimidating as ever, but the effect of her size was lost a bit when she was grinning and holding the hand of a small child. Her skin was so pale that Yasha looked as though she had dusted herself in chalk, but she always looked that way so Caleb didn't worry that something had happened to her while she traveled. Her hair was a collection of long, black braids that faded into white. The braids were dotted, sparingly, when softly colored beads and strings. She was wearing a black shirt which looked like it had previously had sleeves, but someone had decided to tear them off. Caleb wouldn't have been surprised if Yasha's biceps had simply caused the sleeves to rip when she flexed. With it she wore a dark jeans that showed off the strength in her thighs as well as her sleeveless shirt showed the strength in her arms.

Nott was a small goblin girl and Caleb's daughter. She wasn't his biologically, but he had found her picking pockets around the store back when he'd just been an employee and somehow he had ended up taking her in. It had been unexpected and unplanned, but Caleb had never had felt even a second of a regret about his decision. Not even when he'd been trying to figure out how the hell to parent anyone, much less a goblin child who grew so much differently than he had when he was her age.

Nott was wearing a purple peacoat that Jester had gotten her for Christmas that year. Caleb knew that she was wearing a long sleeved shirt under it, but all he could see now were the green pants she wore that were a few shades lighter than her skin. She had a purple, green, and blue scarf wrapped around her neck.

"Hello, Yasha," Caleb said. "Welcome back, Nott."

Nott let go of Yasha's hand, immediately making her way across the cafe to Caleb. The clients of the cafe either smiled at her or paid little attention to her. Despite the low general opinion of goblins, Nott was a frequent fixture in the store and people with anti-goblin sentiments didn't tend to visit again. Not when dirty looks were answered with icy looks and harsh words from the stores staff.

"Caleb!" Nott exclaimed. Caleb saw Yasha move away from the door, beginning to weave her way towards the table that Molly was sitting at. The tiefling was in the middle of reading cards to a pair of genasi girls so he didn't look at her, but some of the tension in his body seemed to seep away now that he knew she was there. As Nott reached him, fingers grabbing onto the knees of Caleb's jeans, Caleb turned his attention away from Yasha and to her instead. "Hello!"

"Hello, little one," Caleb greeted, smiling softly at her. "How was school?"

"I got a cute ring today!"

"You did?"

"Uh huh. Sharric's brother won it for her at the arcade."

"And you stole the ring from Sharric?"

"Yes," Nott said, nodding. Before Caleb could say anything else, Nott continued, "And I know you said not to steal, but I figure it's okay this time because Sharric was being mean again."

"She was making fun of you again?" Caleb asked, smile faltering a bit. He tried not to let Nott's stories bother him since she didn't seem too concerned about the way her classmates treated her, preferring the company of Caleb and The Wizard's Brew staff to other children, but Caleb couldn't help disliking that they treated her so poorly. Nott was a goblin, but that didn't negate the fact that she was a sweet, intelligent child. Her fingers were a ltitle sticky and she jumped to violence quickly, but she was a good girl and Caleb was so proud of her.

"Yes, but I stole her ring so we're even."

"If that's how you feel about it," Caleb said.

"It is," Nott said, nodding with certainty.

Caleb hummed a little bit before asking, "Are you hungry? We got Chinese food earlier and most of my Kung Pao is still left."

"Yes!" Nott exclaimed. "Please!"

"Okay," Caleb said. He gave her a light push. "Why don't you go sit down with Jester? You two can work on your homework together while I get your food."

Nott made a small sound of agreement before moving away from Caleb, calling out, "Jester! I'm going to sit with you, okay?"

"Of course!" Jester agreed, looking up from her textbook to smile widely at Nott.

For a moment, Caleb just leaned against the counter and watched all of them.

Fjord was mixing a drink for a Tabaxi man, chatting ideally with him as he poured cream into the drink. Jester was kicking a chair out across from her for Nott to sit in while his daughter was rummaging through her backpack, searching for some worksheet that she had to do. Yasha had settled down in her usual seat next to Molly, leaning into his space so she was pressed against his arm but otherwise just watching quietly as he handled his costumers. Caleb couldn't see Beau, but he could hear her singing her along with the radio as she moved around the bookstore.

When Caleb had come to town he'd been alone, running from a past that still kept him up at night, with nothing except the clothes on his back and a backpack full of books he couldn't stand to leave behind.

Now things were different.

He'd managed to buy The Wizard's Brew from it's previous owner, taking possession of his first home in his new life. The business was successful and Caleb never had to worry about how he was going to get through the month.

More than any of the material things though, Caleb had acquired a family. One that was a little mismatched and cobbled together, but one that he wouldn't have traded for anything in the world.

 

**Author's Note:**

> 1) Hi everyone! [PJ](http://possiblymichaeljones.tumblr.com/) got me into Critical Role recently and when I saw Liam in his scarf in the beginning of episode six I wanted hipster!coffee!dad caleb so I wrote it. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
> 
> 2) Jester's dress actually exists and you can find it [here](https://www.rosegal.com/vintage-dresses/santa-claus-deer-vintage-christmas-1365284.html).


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